Taliban now ban girl students from attending school beyond third grade

In another severe crackdown on the rights of women, the Taliban have now banned girl students from attending school after the third grade, WION confirmed.

Before this, girls were allowed to study in schools till the sixth grade. As reported by BBC Persian, the Taliban have now instructed schools and educational institutes to not permit girls to attend primary school, even if they are above the age of 10.

The latest onslaught comes 683 days after girls aged 11 and above were banned from schools and 223 days after they were banned from attending universities.

According to a report published by BBC, the Ministry of Education's officials have asked the principals of schools and short-term training classes to ensure that "girls over 10 years old are not allowed to study in primary schools".

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Meanwhile, the officials of non-governmental aid organisations who have been working in the field of education, on the condition of anonymity, informed BBC that the literacy classes did receive such recommendations and orders.

In a few provinces, reports emerged about the Ministry of Good and Prohibition's local authorities separating girls on the basis of their age and asking the principals, who have been running girls' schools, to send back the kids who are above the third grade.

"We were told that girls who are tall and over 10 years old are not allowed to enter the school," said a sixth-grade student in eastern Afghanistan, while speaking to the BBC.

Speaking about the recent crackdown, the spokesman of the Ministry of Public Affairs of the Taliban Mohammad Sadiq Akaf told the BBC, "From our side, the administration has not done such a thing, and if something is done, it will be related to the Ministry of Education."

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Two years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, it stopped girls from attending schools above the sixth grade. The crackdown came despite Taliban officials making use of soft language in international meetings regarding the education and work life of women and emphasising that the ban is "temporary".

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Taliban government Zabihullah Mujahid in August of last year said, "In some areas, we have problems for girls to go to universities and schools, work on it continues and it will be solved soon."

Apart from schools, the Taliban banned women’s beauty parlours and barred them from working in international NGOs and other organisations. Taliban also stopped granting driving licenceto women and placed a ban on them taking taxi rides in the country without a burqa and male companions.

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